1. Field of the Invention
The invention is within the area of technology associated with protecting vehicles and their occupants from explosions of mines or improvised explosive devices typically encountered by military vehicles in combat zones. Generally this technology involves adding armor to the underside of vehicles and specially shaping the lower hulls of the vehicles; typically armored V-shaped hulls or somewhat V-shaped hulls are used to protect the vehicles and the vehicle occupants. One problem that has been encountered in some vehicle designs is that the floor of the cab or cabin of the vehicle oscillates violently as a result of an under-vehicle explosion. The oscillation is known to injure the occupants of the vehicle, the lower limbs of the occupants being particularly vulnerable to the effects of floor oscillation. The invention herein mitigates blast-induced floor oscillation by controlling the paths of blast forces passed to the floor and by providing force dampening isolators in each path. The invention also utilizes the inertia of vehicle components such as the drive train and cargo or payload area to absorb force loads originating from an under-vehicle explosion.
2. Background Art
It is already known to employ a truncated V shaped hull or a “shallow V” hull on a vehicle to enhance its ability to resist or survive mine blasts or similar explosions occurring under the vehicle. Such employment is shown, for example, by US Patent application 2008/0066613 A1 to Mills et al. Mills at FIG. 6 also shows an energy absorbing structure between the truncated V hull and the cab area. The energy absorption structure is comprised of a framework of sacrificial struts or beams reinforcing the lower vehicle hull. An underbody blast shield mounted to the vehicle via shock absorbers is shown in U.S. patent Application Publication 2010/0307329 A1 of Kaswen et al. U.S. Patent Application 2012/0174767 A1 for Naroditsky et al shows a shallow V belly armor plate under a vehicle cab and attached to sidewalls of a vehicle; the belly armor plate has an upper and lower layer between which is an energy absorbing structure. Drive train components have been used in prior art vehicles to absorb a portion of the blast force from explosions under the vehicle so that the vehicle hull experienced a reduced effect from the blast force, as seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,492,282 to Appelblatt. More specifically, Appelblatt's FIG. 6 shows drive train elements beneath a generally “shallow V” shaped lower hull of a vehicle. Prior technology also shows using a component having high mass and inertia within the lower hull portion of a V-hull structure; see FIG. 3B and paragraph 0037 of US Patent Application 2007/0234896 A1 to Joynt, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,357,062. Additionally, FIG. 2 of U.S. Pat. No. 8,033,208 B2 to Joynt shows components disposed between two lower hull V-shaped sections.